chapter 4 : the viewer
309 Words
The video autoplayed as soon as Damien opened the link.
He hadn’t meant to click it. It just… popped up in his group chat. No sender. No message. Just a video titled:
"She’s not alone."
The footage was shaky — a girl crying in the dark, clutching a phone. He recognized her. Mia. She went missing two days ago.
Damien recoiled. This had to be fake. Edited. Viral horror bait. But the moment he closed the video, his phone buzzed.
Snapchat notification.
"0nlyU added you."
He laughed nervously. "Okay, this is some ARG," he muttered. "Weird, but clever."
Then his screen lit up.
"1 new snap from 0nlyU."
Against better judgment, he opened it.
It was a photo.
Of him.
At that exact moment — sitting on his couch, phone in hand, staring at the screen.
He froze. There was no one else in the room. No mirrors. Nothing that could’ve taken that picture.
Snap.
New video.
It showed him again — but not the same moment. This time, the camera was behind him. And in the frame... something tall and pale was crawling out of his bedroom mirror.
Damien jumped up and turned.
Nothing.
He backed away from the mirror. That’s when he noticed: the reflection didn’t match. In the mirror, he was still sitting on the couch.
And the thing behind his reflection? It was watching him now.
His phone buzzed again.
New snap: “You see me now.”
The last image Damien ever saw was his own face — distorted, screaming — trapped behind the glass.
The mirror never reflected right after that.
But sometimes, when the lights flicker just enough, you can still see him inside.
And he’s still holding his phone.
Waiting for someone to open their snap.
Want to keep going with Chapter 5? Or explore a deeper origin story behind 0nlyU?
- Writer
